The concert by Accademia Vivaldi students will feature arias from Antonio Vivaldi’s serenata La Senna festeggiante, RV 693. The serenata is the subject of this month’s Accademia Vivaldi masterclass, led by soprano Gemma Bertagnolli.

The serenata, which owes its name to the context in which it is performed, i.e. outdoors (in a garden or courtyard) in merry  weather, is a dramatic form between the chamber cantata and the dramma per musica. In common with operas it has the opening symphony, in our case a beautiful French-style overture, the alternation of recitatives and arias and the closing with a chorus. The dimensions are decidedly smaller than an opera but more generous than a cantata. The singers perform in costume, in front of a backdrop, usually fixed but often holding sheets of music.

Usually serenades were composed to celebrate special occasions, which could be fixed (name days or birthdays of important people) or unique events (births, weddings, coronations, etc.). La Senna Festeggiante was probably performed on 25 August 1726 on the occasion of Louis XV’s name day and commissioned by the French ambassador to Venice, Jacques-Vincent Languet, Count of Gergy.

The three allegorical characters of this serenade are: The Seine, Virtue and the Golden Age. The two female entities meet on the banks of the French river, which accompanies them – followed by swarms of nymphs, gods and river fauna – along its course, singing the praises and exploits of the French royal family and proclaiming the beginning of a new era of prosperity.